“I brought extra victuals, thinking you might be hungry, boy. If there ain’t enough, I’ll bring for two come lunch-time.”
Bailee was shocked. In the week they’d been in jail, Mrs. Abernathy had never brought anything extra. Once Lacy had asked for more salt, and the old woman reminded her jail wasn’t a restaurant. Her usual breakfast of biscuits and watered-down gravy had changed to a plate of sausage and eggs large enough to feed a family.
Carter leaned forward. “Thank you,” he said simply, “but my wife won’t be here at lunch.” He met the old woman’s stare. “Can you help get her out of here?” he whispered so low Ludlow couldn’t have heard.
To Bailee’s surprise, the old woman nodded once, then returned to chewing on her twig and blotting any brown liquid that darkened the comer of her mouth with a ragged handkerchief. Bailee had heard that snuff deadened the pain from rotting teeth, but no woman she’d known back home used it.
Carter ate as if he were truly starved. Bailee guessed he hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast the day before. She felt a moment of jealousy that he enjoyed another’s cooking so much, then called herself foolish.
Bailee ate one of the biscuits. They were fresh from the oven, not day old as Mrs. Abernathy always brought before. She thought about how she could explain to Carter that she wasn’t going to leave him no matter who he enlisted to help her escape.
Ludlow moved too close to the bars for them to talk. The scarred man looked miserable. He was hung over and hungry and forgotten by his friends. After he glanced at the door several times, Bailee read his mind easily. He wanted to leave, but was afraid to abandon his post.
When Carter finished eating, Mrs. Abernathy gathered up the tray and nodded at Bailee. “Come along, honey. We’ll see if we can’t find that husband of yours a shirt to wear that isn’t ripped. A gentleman like him shouldn’t have to wear a shirt that’s falling off his shoulders.”
Bailee frowned in confusion, but stood while Ludlow unlocked the door. “I don’t—”
Carter pressed his hand against the small of her back. “You’re going,” he whispered in more the tone of an order than a request.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. His hand almost pushed her forward, but in his eyes she saw a plea.
“She ain’t going nowhere.” Ludlow let Mrs. Abemathy pass, then blocked Bailee’s way.
“Yes, she is,” the old woman corrected. “We can’t have a man in jail half undressed. Look at that shirt.”
Ludlow stared at Carter’s shirt as if he’d missed something. “It’s not so bad. I’ve worn worse.”
“Well, Sheriff Riley won’t tolerate a prisoner being all bloodstained and battered. I aim to tell him just how men are treated when he’s away.”
The mention of Riley made Ludlow scratch his head. Fear flickered across the layer of dumbness that usually clouded his features.
The old woman didn’t give him time to think. “Get out of our way, you gully rubbish. The lady is going with me, and I’ll not hear another word. Everyone knows it’s not proper to have a man and a woman in the same cell, even if they are married.”
Ludlow wanted to argue, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He had no charge to hold Bailee on other than bothering him, so he moved out of the way.
“I’ll send someone over with a clean shirt, and I don’t want you touching it. After all, you’re just a deputy’s deputy, nothing more.” Mrs. Abernathy stormed across the office with Bailee only a step behind. “And before I leave, I’m obliged to say that I’d cut my fingers off if I couldn’t get my nails any cleaner than yours, Mr. Ludlow.”
He was looking at his hands when Bailee stepped through the door and into the morning sunshine.
“Thank you,” she whispered when she caught up with Mrs. Abernathy.
“Didn’t do it for you, honey.” The old woman kept up a fast pace. “Did it for the dummy’s boy. Though I never like folks calling him that. His mother weren’t no dummy. You could see it in her eyes. She was one of those rare folks who sees and tastes and feels everything in this life.”
“You know Carter?” Bailee was surprised. She guessed everyone in town knew of him, but she really never dreamed he’d talked to this woman.
“Don’t know him, just seen him all his life. He used to come into town with his ma and pa. I had eleven kids then, none old enough to earn a full day’s wage, and my man had up and left me figuring California was safer then getting caught in a war.”
She didn’t look at Bailee as she continued. “Living got mighty hard that first winter he was gone. Three of my babies died that year. Carter’s ma would always drop off food at my back door when she came to town. Sometimes fruit and nuts, sometimes potatoes, carrots, and eggs. She weren’t like some folks in town wanting to be thanked every time I passed them. She’d slip up to the door and hurry away like silence was a part of her. I’d see her husband grin at her as he pulled her quickly into the wagon and drove off.”
“When Carter’s folks died, I figured I’d seen the last of the food. But a few years later the fruit started appearing again on my back porch. Peaches mostly and nuts in the fall.”
She stopped suddenly and looked up at Bailee. “There ain’t much I wouldn’t do for your man, and all he ever asked me was to get you out of jail. Ludlow’s lucky he didn’t argue or I’d have taken him to the ground in a fight, if it had come to that.” She raised an eyebrow. “You know what your man wants you to do, honey?”
“Yes,” Bailee answered. “But I don’t know if I can leave him.”
“He’s thinking of what’s best for you.”
Bailee nodded. Of course he was thinking of what was best for her, but was it best for him?
“Do what he asks. I’ll be near if you need my help. My house is right there.” She pointed to a shack that looked like it might fall down if the wind got up.
“I’ll be fine.” Bailee knew whatever she asked, if it were within the old woman’s power, she would do.
“Then get to it, honey. I’ve got a shirt that belonged to one of my sons. Best one he had next to the one he was buried in. I’ll take it over to Carter along with a little Navy Colt my oldest boy brought back from the war.”
On impulse, Bailee leaned down and gave Mrs. Abernathy a kiss on her wrinkled cheek, then rushed off in the direction of Lacy’s apartment. The old woman was right, she had to follow Carter’s request. Maybe if he knew she was safe, he’d be able to think about keeping himself out of harm’s way.
Lacy was near panic when Bailee arrived at the print shop.
“I was so worried you wouldn’t get out, or you wouldn’t stop in here, or you wouldn’t be alone.” Lacy wound her way through the cluttered shop as she talked.
Bailee thought of catching her and begging her to settle down, for Bailee could barely keep up with her.
Lacy told about Samuel sleeping outside of her apartment all night. He’d seen a huge shadow of a man moving in the alley, but no one came close enough for Samuel to get a look at him.
Rom had hidden in the comers of the saloon until the town grew quiet, then he’d climbed halfway up the stairs to a place where he could see the front of the jail and waited like a guard.
When they reached the little upstairs apartment, Lacy added, “Samuel and Rom left at dawn to fetch Piper. I’m packed and ready to go along with you. Between the two of us, we should be able to take care of Piper until her father shows up in Childress.”
She stopped with her hand on the knob. “I almost forgot to tell you, Sheriff Riley sent something to you.” Lacy fought down a giggle. “I’m not sure what it is, but it arrived a few hours ago by stage.”
Bailee entered the apartment, trying to guess what the sheriff would find so important that he would have it shipped to her.
Sitting at Lacy’s table was a ragamuffin of a girl in her early teens. She had long chocolate-colored hair that flew in all directions and huge brown eyes ringed in the black remains of makeup.
Bailee threw a questioning look at Lacy, then moved closer as the ragged girl stood.
“I ain’t afraid, if that’s what you’re thinking.” The child stammered as Bailee advanced. “I c-come a-toting lead.”
Lack of sleep and the fear of the past few days fogged Bailee’s brain. She could think of nothing to say to the strange creature.
“Sheriff Riley didn’t send me, like I told this lady.” She pointed to Lacy. “I come of my own free will. I was worried about my friend Carter McKoy.”
She watched Bailee closely, as if expecting her to start yelling at any moment. “I know how some wives feel about women like me, but you don’t need to worry. I ain’t here to take him away from you. Once I know he’s all right, I got money for the train back home.”
“Who are you?” Bailee knew she was being impolite, but one sentence was all she managed to get out.
“Nellie Jean,” the child said. “Nellie Jean Desire, but folks mostly call me Two Bits. I’m a good friend of your handsome husband. In fact, last time I talked to him, he invited me to Sunday dinner.”
“She’s lying,” Lacy whispered in Bailee’s ear.
“Am not!” Two Bits snapped. “I was the one who helped him saddle Smith’s horse and pointed him toward home. If it hadn’t been for me, he wouldn’t have known which way to go.” She winked at Bailee. “He’s one fine slice of man, but he don’t know nothing about the world. You’d think he was born in a bucket and ain’t found his way out yet.”
“She knows Carter,” Bailee whispered with a smile.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Lacy answered. “Most of the men I’ve met in this part of the country are short on brains. No offense to your man, Bailee.”
Bailee stepped closer to the girl. “Did you notice what he does when he’s nervous and can’t think of what to say?”
“Sure,” Two Bits answered. “He moves his hands in some kind of little patterns. I seen him doing it when the girls were operating on Riley.”
Bailee jumped forward and hugged the girl wildly. She had to be the one who’d helped Carter.
“Hey!” Two Bits squealed. “Don’t go drippy-eyed on me. I just come to check things out.”
Lacy wasn’t convinced. “How’d you find me? How’d you know Bailee would come here?”
“Riley told me to look over the print shop first.” Two Bits frowned at Lacy. “I ain’t traveling alone. I got the biggest Texas Ranger with me you ever seen. He come along looking for some little girl named Piper Halloway, but he told Riley he’d keep an eye on me. I’m suppose to meet up with him at the station ever time a train leaves today. He says if I have my business done, I can ride back with him.”
“We’re going along with Piper.” Lacy finally accepted the girl. “I’ve grown attached to her, and I’d like to see her back in the arms of her family.” Lacy left out that she and Bailee were also running from a killer.
Bailee glanced at Lacy’s bags scattered around the room, and realized she had nothing but the wrinkled clothes on her back. The girl in front of her looked to be in the same predicament. Unless she’d stuffed clothes into the small knit bag by her chair, she was wearing her wardrobe.
Lacy read Bailee’s mind. “We’ve time to stop at the mercantile before Samuel returns with Piper. You can get a few things against Carter’s account. I’ll send a message by one of the men downstairs to tell the ranger we have Piper and we’ll meet him. If he’s as huge as this one claims, he shouldn’t be hard to find in a town this size.”
Bailee agreed. She had no idea how long she’d be in Childress. Surely Carter couldn’t mind her buying just a few things more.
She turned to Two Bits. “Carter would like to see that you get a new dress, also. Would you consider going shopping with me?”
“I can pay for my own, if I needed one.” Two Bits looked down at her dress. “Course, Fat Alice says never turn down a gift from a man, so I guess I could let him buy me one, long as it wouldn’t make you too jealous.”
Bailee smiled. “I’ll try to hide my feelings.”
An hour later she stood at the comer of the train platform with Lacy by her side. Two Bits was walking the platform showing off her new outfit to the morning like there was a crowd watching.
Bailee heard the tingle of spurs and turned as a tall man jumped on the platform and moved toward them. There was power in his movements even though he couldn’t have been out of his mid-twenties. He had blond hair and intelligent brown eyes. He wore no badge, but Bailee guessed who he was.
“Ladies.” He removed his hat. “Is one of you Mrs. McKoy?”
“I am,” Bailee answered, liking the way the man showed her such respect.
“I’m Jacob Dalton. I understand you have a little girl traveling with you by the name of Piper.”
“We might have.”
“I’m here to see she gets home safely.” He glanced at Two Bits. “As well as all in her party.”
Two Bits winked at him. “You married, cowboy?”
“No.” He smiled. “I was kind of waiting for you to grow up. You look mighty fine, Miss Nellie Jean.”
“Thank you, Jacob.” She straightened her new dress. “I’m growing as fast as I can, now that I know you’re waiting on me. I’ll be there before you know it, so don’t go getting killed.”
He laughed. “I promise.”
As the train pulled to a stop, they saw Samuel walking across the tracks with Piper in his arms. He’d hitched his wagon behind the mercantile. The bed was loaded down with another shipment of peaches.
The child looked frightened; Samuel looked worried.
They bought tickets and boarded as the whistle blew for “All aboard.”
Bailee hung back from the others, hating the thought of leaving, but knowing Carter would want her safe with the sheriffs in Childress until Zeb Whitaker was rounded up.
She patted Samuel’s hand as she stood on the platform. “Everything is going to be all right,” she reassured him, wishing she could believe her own words.
Samuel didn’t look at her. “I got peaches to unload, then I’m heading back to the ranch. Carter wouldn’t want the place left.”
“Thanks,” Bailee stepped on the first step leading to the passenger car. “Take care.”